The Western Valley Mystery
by Thomas Mc
Summary: Lois and Clark are sent to investigate a series of strange stories about a mysterious inaccessible valley deep in the Appalachian Mountains and a related shadowy government coverup.
1. Chapter 1

**The Western Valley Mystery  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes :_** _This story is another oddball product of my warped muse. It and was originally intended as a short standalone 'Lois and Clark' story but as it grew I ended up using bits of information from my other stories so it could easily be considered another part of my existing Lois and Clark series. This story is set six years after the end of the TV series. Lois and Clark currently have two children. Jonathan Samuel Kent (five years old) and Martha Ellen Kent (two years old)._

 _Lois and Clark are sent to investigate a series of strange stories about a mysterious inaccessible valley deep in the Appalachian Mountains and a related shadowy government coverup.._

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Lois gazed curiously at Perry after she and Clark sat down across from his desk. "So what's up Chief?" She asked without preamble. Perry did his best not to smile at her typical, no-non-sense approach though Lois and Clark both noticed the corners of his lips twitch for just a moment. A second later, his expression settled into his serious story assignment face.

Perry looked back at his star reporting team for a few moments before beginning his narrative. "Forty-seven years ago the federal government began a Super Top Secret operation up in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania. Even the name of the project was Top Secret. The project was eventually abandoned after over two years of constant delays, equipment problems and massive cost overruns, as well as several mysterious deaths and disappearances among the troops involved."

"The Military worked very hard to cover the whole thing up and the public never heard anything about it. The scuttlebutt was that the failed project had the potential to become a major scandal for the military. The relatives of the missing and dead soldiers were threatened with charges of sedition and treason to keep them quiet."

"After a few years, despite the military's attempt to hush it all up, rumors of the deaths began to circulate within the general military community. My editor somehow got wind of the rumors and assigned the story to me. It was one of my first big stories as a young investigative reporter. My first inquiries turned out to be fruitless. The government simply refused to admit that any such project even existed."

Perry paused, lost for a moment in his memories before continuing. "Within days after I began investigating the story, some obscure branch of the FBI hauled me and my editor in and began intimidating and questioning us. A majority of their questions involved trying to find out how we even knew of that project's existence. Later I found out that the government wouldn't even admit to the existence of that branch of the FBI. In fact, they threatened to arrest both my editor and myself for espionage if I didn't drop the whole thing. This was during the worst of the McCarthy era House Un-American Activities Committee trials. My editor backed down and took me off that story. I never really gave up on it, but I've been unable to find much real information on it. To this day everything about that project, including the names of the people involved, is still classified well above Top Secret."

Perry picked up a folder off his desk. "Recently a land developer wanted to create a luxury resort there but he was forced to abandon the idea when he was unable to get his men or his equipment into the valley. Many of the delays were the work of government interference. Several people, including a close friend of mine, had invested a lot of money in that venture and lost it all. I also lost some money to it but it wasn't enough to be significant." Perry shook his head ruefully. "Never would have invested if I had known exactly where the resort was to be built." Perry handed the folder to Clark. "That is a copy of everything that I know or have discovered about that valley and the projects involved. It also includes handwritten copies of my notes that were confiscated by the government back in '58."

Lois glanced over at the folder in Clark's hand then looked at Perry. "So what do you expect from us?"

Perry shrugged. "Do what you two do best. Investigate." He leaned back in his chair. "If you can prove that the failure of the resort project was the result of government or military interference or, better yet, corruption . . . and we can prove it then those that lost their shirts in that project could go after the government for a redress of their losses. It could also make a hell of a great article. Corruption. Abuse of power. Government cover-up of a failed military project. It could end up being almost as big as the fall of Lex Luther."

"Seems rather thin to me." Lois responded. "I think it's more likely that the developer scammed the investors and is just trying to use an old failed military project and a few normal bureaucratic SNAFU's to cover his own tracks."

Perry nodded. "That is a possibility. If it turns out to be true then I expect that to be in your article. If that developer was scamming the investors maybe you can find out where the money went." He sat up straighter. "Now go to work and bring me back a good story." As they started to stand up Perry interrupted them. "But first I want you to take this." He handed Lois the thinnest flip open cell phone that she had ever seen. "This is an advance sample of the newest cell that is scheduled to be released next week. It's small enough to be easily hidden. It was given to me by one of those investors I mentioned. I know that you two have a 'super' ability to survive trouble but I want you to keep me up to date on whatever you find. That way if you run into trouble with the government, we can print everything we have so far and make it too hot for them to hold you."

Perry faced Clark. "You watch over Lois and try to keep her out of trouble."

"That's a pretty tall order." Clark responded.

Lois responded by whacking Clark on his chest. "I can take care of myself thank-you."

As Clark reached for the office door, Perry had one last thing to add. "You know that Alice and I will be happy help your parents look after the kids while you're gone."

"We know." Lois responded as she exited the door. "I'll be sure to remind Mother though."

~ o ~

Lois tossed her notes onto the conference room table in disgust. "Five days and nothing but dead ends." She and Clark had spent two days researching the man that had planned to develop the western valley area. They learned that the failed resort project had been just as destructive to his finances as it had been for his investors. That made it highly unlikely that he had failed intentionally. It had been one dead end after another.

Despite the endless brick walls, they had uncovered a few snippets of information surfaced that suggested that the government really had tried to sabotage the resort project but none of it could be proven. They had also collected a hand full of very fanciful anecdotes about the 'Western Valley' itself. All of that information, as ridiculous and, ultimately, useless as it appeared to be, had been dutifully reported back to Perry.

Lois shook her head and directed her attention to Perry. "All we really have is your original notes and the few affidavits that you managed to get before that FBI group forced your editor to shut your investigation down."

Clark chimed in. "We do have enough evidence and testimonies to suggest that some shadowy government group was up to no good but we can find no records on who was responsible." He tossed a thin folder on the conference table. "All of the names we have of the agents involved turned out to be phony. They never existed. Even the people from that office, that harassed you and your editor, appear to have been phony and the office itself was leased to a non-existent government account."

Perry's head was bowed as he seemed to ponder their words for a minute then spoke. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that this smells of Bureau 39." He looked up at Lois and Clark. "But we know that the last remnants of that renegade group were captured shortly after Jonathan's birth, based on that article written by you two shortly after Colonel Cash had taken over what was left of that bunch of wackos."

Lois shook her head as a look of disgust crossed her face. "It couldn't be them, Chief. Bureau 39 is dead." Again she shook her head. " It has to be someone in the NSA or the CIA that has gone to a lot of trouble to cover their tracks. There is no other way to explain the bugs that were found in our house and in your office two days after we began digging into this." She glanced at the little bug detector that was currently sitting on the conference room table, it's flashing green light indicating that the conference room was bug free

"I agree." Perry nodded. "It looks like you two will have to go to the source and find out what is really happening in that valley."

It took a second for Lois to absorb what Perry had just said. Then she was catapulted into full rant mode. "You're kidding. You want to send us to some isolated spooky mountain region, full of nothing but trees and hillbillies over some dead end stories!? The answers are here in Metropolis. The answers have to be here."

Perry just stared at Lois. "You already said that you have hit a dead end here in Metropolis. The answers have to be up in those mountains. Something strange is going on there and I want you two to find out what it is. I want the both of you to leave as soon as you can. If you go by way of Superman express, you might be able to shake this group off your tail." He glanced at the little bug detector on the conference table. "And I'm going to have the bug removed from my office and have the rest of this office swept for any more bugs."

~ o ~

Lois grumbled to herself in annoyance as she looked down on the valley from the end of the pass through the surrounding rugged mountain peaks. How had she let Perry talk her into this total waste of time? It's not as if there was any possibility of them getting any kind of news worthy story out of this isolated place, despite what the superstitious locals claimed. It was just another very hard to access piece of landscape that had become immersed in some stupid local legend.

The road up into the mountains had been difficult and treacherous. The gorge through the mountains had contained ample evidence of recent rock slides which had forced them to leave their rented car at the other end. Fortunately, Clark's ability to fly had saved them the need to walk the length of the gorge.

She had come to suspect that the only reason the military had been interested in this place was for that very same inaccessibility. What better place to carry out its more nefarious, and sometimes illegal, projects?

Lois And Clark had started by checking out the small village that was located just a few miles east of the valley. Three days later they were standing at the end of a gorge that had apparently been gouged between two mountains. A mist rising from the bog below them would tantalizingly reveal the landscape beyond then obscure it again. _'Of course,'_ Lois thought in annoyance then remarked to Clark, 'This fog probably doesn't hinder your vision at all."

Lois was currently gazing at what looked like part of the front right corner of a very rusted and vine covered Sherman Tank sticking up out of the fetid swampy bog about thirty-five yards from where the edge of thate bog began. The mist momentarily rolled back a bit to reveal more of the bog. Her gaze shifted to a spot about ninety yards further out and slightly to the left. A ten-foot length of construction crane stuck straight up out of the bog like a giant skeletal finger, warning the unwary of the danger that lay ahead. Lois shivered. How deep did that bog have to be to sink all but ten feet of a construction crane?

Lois shook her head as she thought back to some of the incredible tales that they had heard in the nearby village.

~ o ~

Their first day at the village, located just east of the subject of their investigation, had been spent talking to the people of that small farming community. After some initial reluctance, Clark had finally managed to get some of the people to talk to him and Lois. Sometimes Lois envied Clark's natural easygoing charm that encouraged people to open up to him.

Most of the people of the village called it The Western Valley. A few had referred to it as the Haunted Valley or The Cursed Valley. According to the local legend, it had first been discovered just over a hundred years ago. The story goes that during a heavy rainstorm, several of the people living in the relatively quiet settlement of Greenwood had seen the clouds directly above suddenly become blindingly bright, like a flash of lightning, brighter than anything that they had ever seen before, followed by the strange sounding thunder that was much louder than anything that they had ever heard before. Less than a second later, the whole town heard a massive explosion up in the mountains just to the west of the settlement.

Two weeks later a group of six men and two women had gone up into the mountains to investigate. An old tintype photograph of those eight people hung on the wall of the local bed and breakfast, the owner of which was a descendant of one of the two couples in the picture. After a five-day hike, the explorers had found an odd-looking, perfectly straight, gorge carved between two peaks. The strangely shaped gorge was solid rock completely denuded of vegetation. Those first explorers followed the unusual gorge to a secluded valley nestled deep in the mountains. They descended into the valley and quickly became mired in the bog that covered the valley floor. Five of them were lost in the treacherous bog and the three surviving men were forced to turn back. Their tales of the terrors they endured sent shivers of horror down the spines of the settlers that heard them.

The villagers claimed that since that time, occasionally, a few hardy individuals would attempt to climb the mountain and enter the valley. Everyone who did so either never returned or came back changed, raving about the haunted forest swamp that came alive and drove them out.

The older villagers told about an attempt by some military types to enter the valley via helicopter forty odd years ago that had ended in disaster. A young teenage village girl, who had become infatuated with the helicopter pilot, had sneaked into the compound and overheard the radio chatter as the helicopter began its descent into the valley. They hit violent hundred mile per hour turbulence and crashed into the bog. No one made it back. The storyteller pointed to a hand drawn portrait, that the teenage girl had done, and identified it as the pilot. A month later two tanks and several troop carriers passed through town heading west. A few months later about half of the military personnel came back on foot and severely dispirited.

A few years ago, a bunch of construction types from the big city had come through the village with a large load of earth moving equipment. A year and a half later, what remained of the group had passed back through the village without most of their equipment. There were rumors that they had been driven away by the ghosts of others that had died there.

One of the locals mentioned seeing two other outsiders in dark suits hanging around the village, off and on, at about the same time that the developer had been there. The suits left about two weeks after the developer abandoned his project.

~ o ~

Now Lois and Clark stood at the end of the gorge and looked down on that same Western Valley several yards below them and spreading out far to the west.

The tantalizing glimpses they got of the central part of the valley looked like a very pleasant, almost park-like, green forest. This forest however was, completely, surrounded by a dark, dense, swampy, forbidding bog. The surrounding bog varied in width, with the widest part on the eastern side, directly below where they currently stood. A constantly shifting mist rose from the bog and would often obscure their view of the more inviting forest in the central part of the valley. The entire Valley was then surrounded by three nearly inaccessible high mountain peaks. The only way through the mountains was the narrow gorge that they were currently standing in. The gorge was cut in a nearly straight line between two of the peaks.

Clark used his x-ray vision to get a clearer view of the Central Forest through the mist. What he saw was an admittedly beautiful and lush combination of forest and glades that would be perfectly at home in Centennial Park. The difference between the bog and the central woods was like night and day. He noticed that the Forested glade appeared to be more or less circular in shape and the line between the two types of landscape was startlingly sharp. Clark commented mostly to himself. "That central forest is beautiful but there is definitely something unusual about the overall landscape of that valley."

Lois turned to Clark. "I don't care what Perry wants, There is no way I'm going to slog through that creepy swamp just to get a closer look at that valley."

Clark shrugged. "That outer bog ringing the valley seems to be a key component in the tales that we are here to investigate. We need to, at least, check it out and see what is actually going on down there."

"Do you see that tank and that crane? I will not set foot in any stinky, slimy bog." Her tone turned to a form of flirty wheedling as she ran her hand seductively across his chest. "Can't you just sort of carry me over the bog to that nice forest?"

Clark rolled his eyes as he gave off a long-suffering sigh, though there was the strong hint of a smile creeping across his lips. He had already planned to fly them over the bog.

Lois put her arms around his neck and leaped into the arms that had automatically responded to catch her. "Let's go flyboy." She remarked with her best flirty grin.

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 2**__**

 _ _( 181028 )__

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 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is based on the television series " **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.** " The recognizable characters and settings in this story are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them, and I have no claim on them whatsoever, nor am I profiting by their use. The story, however, is a product of my own imagination. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. _


	2. Chapter 2

**The Western Valley Mystery  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes :_** _At the beginning of the first chapter, I warned you that this story is an oddball product of my **warped** muse. This is where I throw you a curve ball out of left field.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

With an automatic glance around to check for any possible observers, Clark lifted off the ground and began to fly over the mist that seemed to cover much of the swampy bog. He immediately found himself being buffeted by the very strong hundred mile per hour turbulence in the air above the dank, thickly wooded bog. For some reason Clark was finding it a lot more difficult to maintain his intended flight path through the swirling gusts of wind than it should have been. He dropped down into the heaviest mist close to the ground to avoid the worst of the turbulence. If not for his super vision, Clark would have been nearly blind in this thick mist. Even with his super vision he was having a little difficulty seeing clearly. It was easy to see why the Military had been unable to access the Valley by air.

Once he got below the heavy turbulence, Clark could hear the normal sounds of life, both from the forest and the bog and the sounds of water flowing through multiple streambeds. The breeze this close to the ground was nearly non-existent. As he got closer to the border between the two types of landscape, he soon become aware of another sound, well below the normal sounds of nature. The new sound was reminiscent of tiny distant bells. He tried to focus in on the sound but it seemed to be coming from everywhere however it seemed to be slightly stronger toward the center of the, more welcoming, central forest.

As he scanned the bog below, he spotted a swamp boat with the large airplane propeller on the back. It was half submerged within a few yards of the border between the bog and the lighter forest. That meant that someone might have actually made it through the dark bog to the central forest.

Clark began a gentle downward glide toward the nearest edge of the far more hospitable looking glade. As they came out of the worst of the mist, Clark spotted an unusual detail that he had not noticed before. He settled on an open field of wild flowers next to the border of the bog. "That's interesting." He commented as he set Lois on her feet.

"What's interesting?" Lois inquired as she glanced around, trying to see what he might be commenting about.

"Those flowers." He pointed toward the edge of the bog. "They form a border between the two types of landscape. From above it looks almost like a red line on a map."

Lois now saw what he meant. There was a narrow swath of red flowers that followed the edge of the bog for as far as she could see, and it did look like a red dividing line between the two types of terrain. "How strange." She looked closer. "What type of flowers are they?"

Clark cocked his head. "I'm not very knowledgeable about plant life but I think they look like Primroses. Mother used to grow them in her flower garden." He quickly plucked one of the blooms and handed it to Lois. "When I was little, Mom used to tell me that once upon a time they were used to make love potion."

Lois shivered and dropped the flower. "No thanks! After my experience with Miranda's concoction, I think I'll pass."

Clark laughed at her reaction then developed a mild blush as he remembered her, pheromone induced, 'Dance of the Seven Veils'. He hastily cleared his throat. "Yea, well, let's take a look around and see what there is to see."

Lois was trying to suppress images of that embarrassing incident as she responded. "Yea, good idea. Look around."

By mutual consent, Lois and Clark turned away from the bog, with its disturbing border of primroses, and started strolling through the lighter, more friendly looking, central forest. The forest seemed to be teaming with all forms of life. Lois found the sights and sounds of the forest glade to be quite peaceful. She was here alone with Clark's solid presence and the mention of that pheromone incident had given her passionate side a tiny nudge. She unconsciously drew close to Clark's comforting presence.

As they explored the forest broken by many fields of knee high wild flowers, Lois was soon completely engulfed in a peaceful sense of contentment. ' _Maybe this little excursion wouldn't be so bad after all_.' She thought to herself as she entwined her fingers through Clark's.

After about a half hour of walking, they were getting close to the center of the forest. Clark became wary when he noticed that he was no longer hearing the faint bell-like sounds. As he thought back he realized that they had been getting less and less noticeable over the last ten minutes and had been completely absent for the last minute or so. He glanced around but could see nothing to account for either the presence or now the absence of the sounds.

Near a thicket of trees Lois spotted an unusually large rock outcropping. It appeared to be a single gigantic boulder about six feet high and maybe twelve feet across. There were many dark openings in the side of the huge boulder. Near the top of the rock formation there appeared to be several groupings of three very regular slot shaped holes that made her think of windows. Over all she could make out about a dozen of those window like groups. Lois let go of Clarks hand and shifted her course toward the outcropping to get a better look; her curiosity peaked by the unique feature.

Clark had noticed the same peculiarities as Lois and paused as she veered toward the extraordinary rock formation. He frowned to himself and started to follow her. Lois had always been drawn to anything that was unusual or mysterious but to Clark there was something very unsettling about those anomalous features. As Clark looked closer at the formation, he realized that he could barely make out a faint silvery aura emanating from that large rock. At the same time, Clark noticed that the tiny distant bell sounds had returned. He started to reach out to stop Lois.

The next moment Lois screeched as she was suddenly attacked from above by a, larger than normal, fast moving purple butterfly. The next instant six large brown and green butterflies led by an unusually large, fast moving, dragonfly were also diving toward Lois. She stumbled back a few steps, waving her arms in front of her face in an attempt to ward off the attacking insects.

For just a moment, Clark was stunned by the absurdity of being attacked by butterflies but he quickly recovered and moved to place himself between Lois and the oversized insects. The creatures were moving so fast that it was hard to get a good look at them, much less fend them off. Clark quickly became aware of another problem. The large butterflies were not able to hurt him but whenever the dragonfly struck him, Clark felt a distinctly painful sting. He was beginning to feel a faint but strangely familiar uneasiness as he noticed a pale green glow coming from the large dragonfly. There was also a faint hint of numbness wherever the dragonfly struck him.

Clark shifted into near super speed mode to more easily deal with fast moving attackers. Now that he had shifted to near super speed, Clark stared in amazement at the incredible sight before him. His first clear view of the attacking creatures was a startling revelation.

The purple butterfly was nothing like what Clark had expected. The body was not a bug at all. It was a tiny three and a half inch tall, slender and very pretty, dark haired humanoid female. She had short streaked brown hair, large expressive golden brown eyes in a pixie like face with very long pointed ears. She wore a short woody brown dress with a large hole in the back to expose where the two pairs of butterfly wings sprouted from her back. Her wings were a deep iridescent royal blue that shifted into deep purple and back with the changing angle of the light. The wings were trimmed in black along the outer edges. The forward pair of wings had yellow spots imbedded in the black border. The wings were about three inches wide and about four inches from front corner to the curved back edge. The first word that came to Clarke's mind at the image was ' _Fairy_ '. The butterfly-girl or fairy was an incredibly beautiful creature and she was wielding a tiny, intricately engraved, two-inch long sword.

The dragonfly also was not really a dragonfly. He appeared to be a four-inch tall, scaly, armored skinned male humanoid. The wings were moving so fast that, even to his accelerated vision, they formed a colorful, nearly invisible, fan shaped cloud radiating out from his back. Clark had to push his super speed in order to make out the actual shape of the creature's wings, which turned out to be four transparent dragonfly-like wings. Pushing his super speed turned out to be more difficult than expected so Clark let it slip back 'til it was just enough to make the creature's movements seem to be at normal speed as he continued to fend off their attacks.

The dragonfly-man's heavily armored skin was a brownish gray color that would blend in well with the bark of the trees in the dark bog. Taken as a whole there was something hideously wicked about his appearance. He was wielding a five-and-and-a-half-inch long ornate metal staff with a tiny one-eighth-inch piece of pale green glowing crystal embedded in one end of it.

There was no doubt in his mind that the crystal must be kryptonite. That would explain why it stung wherever the dragonfly-man struck him. The color was slightly more yellowish than the type of green kryptonite that he had encountered before. The effects of this new type of kryptonite did not cause as much pain as he might have expected for a piece that size.

The other butterfly creatures appeared to be the male equivalent of blue and purple female. Their wings were several shades of brown and green. They also appeared to be wearing some type of shiny forest green armor and they were wielding swords identical to the one carried by the butterfly-girl. The armored butterfly-men seemed to be following the dragonfly-man and attempting to protect him and butterfly-girl as well as supporting their attacks.

As Clark had first shifted to near supper speed, the tiny bell like sounds made by the creatures had resolved into something recognizable. The dragonfly-man and butterfly-girl were . . . singing! . . . In a duet! . . . And sometimes harmonizing!

The songs were a combination of martial battle song, about protecting their home from monsters, mixed with inter-personal instructions between them or comments about what was happening. Occasionally, a command was issued to the other butterfly men. In a small corner of his mind, Clark noted that they both had excellent singing voices. He even recognized occasional phrases and even whole stanzas as coming from old familiar songs. The whole thing was so strange and improbable that Clark felt like he had been transported into one of his two children's Disney videos. Little Martha Ellen was just beginning to become infatuated with fairies and young Jonathan Samuel hadn't yet grown out of that stage.

The slight sting of a strike from the dragonfly-man, combined with a squeal from Lois as one of the butterfly men dove at her from the side, startled him out of his slightly dazed state. He reached out and deflected the butterfly-man that was diving on Lois. This situation was fascinating but he needed to end this before someone got hurt. Those swords were tiny but they were long enough and sharp enough to do some real damage to Lois. In addition, that tiny piece of kryptonite was still large enough that it could very well start affecting his powers if he didn't put a stop to this situation very soon.

After a moment of studying their movements, Clark shifted to full super speed and suddenly brought his cupped hands together to form a hollow sphere, trapping the butterfly-girl. The dragonfly-man froze, hovering in mid air, a look of shock and horror clearly apparent on his tiny face. Butterfly-girl was fluttering around in a panicked frenzy for a couple of seconds before suddenly becoming very still. In the small spaces between his fingers, he could see her curled up in the very cramped space.

All six butterfly-men furiously attacked his hands. Then a second later, at a sharp command from Dragonfly-man, they withdrew to form up around Dragonfly-man.

Clark slowly opened his hands. Butterfly-girl was curled up in a kneeling position on his palm with her wings wrapped protectively around her body. After a second, she rose up and stood there. Her wings hung limply down her back so that they looked like a flowing, floor length, cape draped from her shoulders. Clark was no insect expert but one thing he did know was that real butterflies could not fold their wings like that nor could their wings go limp like hers had. She still had her sword but she was loosely holding it lowered with the point resting on his palm. She had probably already realized that Clark's skin was impervious to her sword.

A second after Butterfly-girl stood up, Dragonfly-man gave quick instructions to his six butterfly-men escorts to stay back but remain alert then, alone, he approached cautiously. When Clark made no threatening moves, Dragonfly-man landed on Clark's palm next to Butterfly-girl as she sheathed her sword. The mismatched pair clasped hands and, with a short soft duet, Dragonfly-man appeared to be reassuring himself that Butterfly-girl was unharmed. One end of his staff came to rest against Clark's palm, but, fortunately, the tiny piece of kryptonite was at the other end. Clark could still feel a very slight tingle in his hand but it didn't seem to have done him any serious harm. As far as he could tell, this piece of kryptonite could cause pain but had not affected his powers. So he simply endured it without comment for the moment.

By now, Lois was looking past Clark's shoulder and got her first real good look at the two creatures in Clark's hand. Her face became a mask of startled disbelief. "What are they?" As though in response. Lois noticed a number of large colorful butterflies emerging from the strange stone outcropping that they had first noticed. "Clark?" She exclaimed as she pointed to the swarm. "Over there!"

Dragonfly-man looked back where she was pointing then took off and flew toward the gathering swarm while butterfly-girl seemed to be gazing curiously back and forth between Lois and Clark. The swarm continued to hover above the rock and Dragonfly-man soon returned to again land on Clark's hand. The next instant Lois was aware of a sound like a mixture of Perry's small desktop water fountain and the tinkling of tiny bells. It was coming from the two small creatures.

After a couple of seconds, Clark spoke almost too fast for Lois to follow. "I am Clark and this is Lois, my wife. We were simply here to explore this place. Who are you and why did you attack us?"

Again there were more of the bell-like tones from the tiny creatures, with some squeaks and chirping thrown in.

Clark glanced down at the ground for a second then remarked speaking very fast and very softly. "I apologize. We did not realize that they were there."

"What are you talking about and why are you speaking so fast?" Lois inquired in confusion.

Clark turned his head and responded to Lois in a more normal rate of speech. "These two are Maryanne and The Bog King, though he will answer to simply Bog. They were attacking us to drive us away from the elf village." He pointed at the ground directly in front of them. "We almost stepped on their homes."

Lois looked down. At first all she saw was meadow grass and wild flowers. Then she began to make out small houses, no bigger than the size of a shoebox, half hidden in the surrounding plant life. As she became more adept at spotting the half-hidden cottages, she realized that the small village extended for several yards ahead of them.

Lois looked back at Clark. "You understand them?"

"Of course." He responded. "They're speaking, or singing, English. It's just that they are speaking so fast that you can't distinguish individual words. I have to use near super speed to understand them."

More sounds, a bit lower in tone and now distinguishable as words but still way too fast for Lois to understand came from Maryanne, the butterfly-girl.

As Lois continued to, warily, watch the strange creatures, there was another short spate of sounds from the Bog King. Clark responded, speaking slower but still too fast for Lois to make out the words. The bog King responded. Then Clark produced more super fast speech followed by lifting about a foot off the ground carrying Lois with him. After a few moments, he settled back on the ground and the conversation between Clark and the Bog King resumed.

"I really hate being out of the loop." Lois grumbled to herself. She wasn't sure but it seemed to her that the sounds were coming more slowly and she had even caught a few nearly intelligible words in the last exchange.

Clark said something very short then turned his attention to Lois. "Bog and I are trying to establish a conversation. If you can just hang in there for a minute, I will tell you what we have said. Just now, he was asking how we got past the 'Dark Forest'. He was a bit irritated that his minions in the bog had failed to drive us back. I told him that we simply bypassed the bog. He asked how we did that and I told him that we went over it, while illustrating my point. He then wanted to know why we are here and I told him that we heard stories about this impenetrable valley and came here to investigate."

Lois glanced over at the swarm of butterfly-people that she saw flitting about above the large rock. "I wonder if Tinker Bell hangs out around here with these fairies." She commented under her breath

Clark paused then looked at Lois in surprise. "What did you say?"

Lois looked back at him defensively for a moment then responded. "Well, Tinker Bell is a fairy and fairy is as good a description of them as anything. When Tinker Bell speaks, it supposedly sounds like a bell. They certainly sound like bells to me." She shrugged. "So I just wondered."

Clark shook his head. "As both of our children would tell you, Tinker Bell is a pixie . . . I can't believe I just said that. I've spent way too much time watching TV with our kids." He paused a moment and shrugged at the short quiet giggle that came from Lois. "I have no idea what these creatures call themselves."

There was a short spate of the bell like tones from the butterfly-girl. This time Lois was sure she heard what sounded like super-high-speed words in the sounds. Clark raised one eyebrow and remarked to Lois. "According to Maryanne, many of them do call themselves fairies."

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 3**__**

 _ _( 181028 )__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ', (a very unusual movie), and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	3. Chapter 3

**The Western Valley Mystery  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

At that moment, Lois caught motion from the corner of her eye and glanced back down at the ground. At her feet a foot and a half long green lizard with a purple splotch around its left eye had just emerged from the undergrowth. There was a two-and-a-half-inch humanoid creature riding just behind its head. "What is that?" She exclaimed in a startled half-screech. The next second she realized that she was looking **_down_** at the shocked look on Clark's face.

"Lois you're floating!" Clark remarked, looking up at her in shocked surprise.

After a couple of seconds to recover her composure, Lois tried to use what she had learned during her short time as Ultra Woman but she just hung there motionless in mid air. "I can't get down." She exclaimed in frustration. "I can't control it."

"Just remember how you did it as Ultra Woman, Honey." Clark instructed.

She placed her hands on her hips and frowned at Clark. "I already tried that." She retorted in exasperation. "It's not working."

"Try the other powers." Clark suggested.

After a few seconds of apparent quiet concentration, she responded. "I've tried as many of them as I dare." She looked at Clark a moment before continuing her thought. "None of them are working." She finished with a slight shake of her head. "Except for the floating." She frowned a moment in thought. "In fact this doesn't feel the same as your form of floating."

Clark reached up, grabbed her ankle, and pulled her down to the ground. She gave a small gasp when he let go of her and she felt herself start to rise again. She grabbed Clark's arm and pulled herself closer to his protective bulk. All the while, she continued staring warily at the unusually large lizard with its unusually small humanoid rider.

There was some more of the odd, almost understandable, musical speech from the two tiny creatures standing on Clark's other hand. Clark interpreted. "According to Maryanne, that is Lizzy and the elf riding on her back is called Sonny." He shrugged at Lois's look. "Bog says that they are harmless."

Lois looked warily at the lizard. "Are you sure about that?"

Clark shrugged. "That's what they told me."

While Clark had been speaking to Lois, Maryanne and the Bog King had been conversing with each other. This time Lois was able to catch just enough of their words to know that they were afraid that more flying giants might invade their forest and were wondering what they could do about it.

Speaking just barely slow enough that she could make out what he was saying Clark responded to the small pair. "That is not something you need to worry about. Up until a moment ago, I was the only 'giant' able to fly. Your bog is a more than adequate defense against any other giants." He glanced over at Lois. "My wife and I are no danger to you or your valley."

"Well, you can fly . . . I only seem to be able to float and I can't control where I go." Lois commented as she watched another butterfly-girl with Monarch-like wings leave the swarm by the rock and fly toward them. Monarch-girl landed on the back of the lizard and settled close to the elf called Sonny. "Are you sure that lizard isn't dangerous?" Lois asked quietly as she continued to look warily at it.

Maryanne responded. "Lizzy is harmless to someone as big as you."

Lois retorted in a huff. "I still think that lizard looks dangerous."

Clark was staring at Lois, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Do you realize that you are talking nearly as fast as they are?" He paused a moment as her expression changed to one of confusion. "You are also now moving nearly as fast as they are as well." He scanned her from head to toe but saw no signs of any physical problems. "Your heart is also beating at more than four times its normal rate. Are you feeling alright?"

Lois looked back at him in surprise for a moment then responded. "I don't feel any different than before. I thought everyone was just finally slowing down to my level." She shrugged.

Clark cocked his head for a moment then commented. "You look like a video tape on fast forward."

Lois frowned back at him, unable to think of a suitable response.

Clark resumed speaking with the two 'fairies'. "Can you explain what is happening to my wife?" He paused. "First she is suddenly able to float, though she seems unable to control it and now she is moving and talking nearly as fast as all of you?"

Maryanne and Bog looked at each other and shrugged while shaking their heads. "We can't really explain why that is happening to her." Bog responded with a barely perceptible glance toward the stone formation.

The next second, Monarch-girl remarked. "It's just an effect of the magic in this valley. Sugar Plum could explain what is happening."

"Dawn!" Maryanne exclaimed then she and Bog looked at each other, a hint of surprise mixed with displeasure in their faces. The Monarch-girl, apparently named Dawn, simply shrugged.

Lois made a slight choking sound then she and Clark looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They both repeated the same words simultaneously. " ** _Sugar Plum?_** " Then, sporting looks of incredulity, they looked back at Maryanne and Bog.

Maryanne began speaking in a resigned voice. "Sugar Plum is the oldest of all of us. No one really knows how old she is and she can be a bit strange or . . . eccentric at times but she has a better understanding of how the magic works. If anyone can explain what is happening, it would be her." She glanced at Bog with a look of resignation.

Bog returned her resigned look then spoke to Lois and Clark. "If you will follow us, we will lead you to an area where you will not be in danger of stepping on one of our villages and you can be more comfortable."

Clark nodded and Bog and Maryanne took off and flew toward Lois and Clark's left. Clark quickly glanced around scanning the surrounding mountains then lifted off the ground. When he reached for Lois, he discovered that she was already floating. He gave her a quizzical look.

Lois shrugged. "I seem to be getting enough control to be able to float at will now but I still can't seem to fly."

Maryanne paused in her flight and turned toward Lois. She hung in mid air, her wings fully extended and barely moving, for a moment then respond. "All fairies have the ability to float but, without our wings, that is just about all we can do." She turned back around and, with a few quick flicks with her wings swept backward; she caught up with Bog then extended them fully open to slow down and match Bog's speed.

Clark shrugged, took Lois's hand and proceeded to follow the two amazing creatures. Lois and Clark were led to a large old fallen tree trunk and were invited to wait there while Bog and Maryanne flew off toward the large rock formation. Clark and Lois sat down on the broken trunk and looked at each other in bemused silence for a several seconds.

Lois finally spoke. "I don't know about you but this has **got** to be the strangest assignment I have ever been on." She paused and shook her head in a combination of frustration and amusement as she watched the two tiny creatures disappear into the large rock formation that dominated this part of the forest. " **Fairies!** We have actually been talking to **fairies**." She took a deep breath and huffed it out explosively. "Perry will blow his stack if we submit this story to him." She pulled out the super thin cell phone that Perry had given them and frowned down at it. "Can't worry about that." She shook her head. "No reception. In fact, this thing has been useless since we entered that strange gorge through the mountains." She looked over at Clark and noticed that he had removed his glasses and was string at the large rock formation. "Can you tell what's inside that big rock?"

"That's what I'm trying to do, but it's a bit difficult." He glanced over at her. "My vision seems to be a bit inhibited by the glow that surrounds that formation. I need to concentrate." He turned his attention back to the great stone formation.

Lois sat quietly and tried not to fidget so Clark could concentrate on what he was doing. She was definitely worried by his admission that his powers were weaker inside this valley. Clark had a habit of downplaying any problems he might have in order not to cause her any worry. That meant that he must be having more trouble with his vision than he had admitted.

Clark had first noticed that his speed was not up to par while he was dealing with the initial attack of the fairies. It should have been easy for him but it had taken everything he had to move fast enough to capture Maryanne. Through subtle testing, since that initial battle, he had established that all of his powers were significantly weaker than normal. They were all there and they didn't seem to be getting any weaker than when he had first discovered the problem. He would still be able to, easily, lift a large vehicle and probably save a falling airplane but he seriously doubted that he could lift a fully loaded shuttle into orbit.

Clark had to concentrate to get his x-ray vision to work properly but he was able to see through the rock formation. The rock turned out to be honeycombed with natural and artificial tunnels and chambers. The rock was also shot through and through with veins of a glowing silvery crystal-like substance that provided light for most of the interior areas. He quickly spotted Bog and Maryanne talking to an older and rather portly butterfly-winged character that looked, more than anything, like a Fairy King. Clark zeroed in on their conversation. His hearing was less effective than normal but still good enough.

~ o ~

The Fairy King was speaking. "Maryanne, are you sure that you're alright? From this distance, I couldn't see everything that was happening, but I saw that giant catch you. It looked like he had crushed you between his hands. I was so afraid that he had killed you."

Maryanne reached out to touch the Fairy Kings forearm. "I'm fine Dad. He didn't hurt me."

The Fairy Kung sighed with relief then his expression turned serious. "What did you find out? What are they?"

Maryanne shrugged. "I'm sorry Dad, We weren't able to learn much about them except that they are married and were not aware of us until they were about to step on the elves village and we were forced to attack . . . for all the good it did."

Bog jumped in. "He simply ignored our attacks and 'The Magic' seems to be having no effect on him at all. The female however does show some signs of being affected but not enough to be significant."

The Fairy King glanced out through the windows at the two giants. "What about the female?"

Maryanne shook her head. "The female was not immune to our attacks but after the first pass at them the male was able to prevent us from reaching her again."

"Is there any way we could drive them into the Dark Forest?" The Fairy King inquired then gestured through the window like opening to the swarm of fairies congregating over the huge rock. "What if all of the fighters attacked them at once?"

Bog responded. "It wouldn't help. When he grabbed Maryanne, he moved so incredibly fast that his hands were just a blur. I suspect that if he wanted to, he could wipe out your entire army before we were even aware that he had moved." He shrugged. "Driving them into the Dark Forest would serve no purpose. I don't think there is anything in this valley that can harm him and he is not going to let anything hurt the female."

Maryanne jumped in with a slight shrug. "To be honest, I really don't think they mean us any harm." At the king's incredulous look, she shrugged again and continued. "Clark, that's what he said his name was, could easily have killed me. He trapped me in a terribly confined space, and could so easily have crushed me. I was scared half to death that he would do just that without any effort. Yet it seemed like he was being extremely careful not to hurt me."

She glanced at Bog who added. "The whole time we were attacking he never actually struck back. The only time he acted aggressively was when he captured Maryanne and as soon as we stopped attacking he immediately opened his hands and released her."

Maryanne grabbed Bog's elbow and started to draw him away. "Right now, we need to find Sugar Plum."

The Fairy King looked surprised then frowned. "Why do you need her?"

Bog responded. "The male wanted to know what was happening to his wife and Dawn mentioned that Sugar Plum would know. So now they want to speak to her."

The Fairy King's frown turned to resignation. "That girl is too impetuous sometimes. I wish she hadn't mentioned Sugar Plum."

Bog remarked as they moved away. "Truth is, I'm kind of curious what she will have to say. She might be able to explain why 'The Magic' is not affecting him and has so little effect on the female."

The fairy king stood there shaking his head as Bog and Maryanne headed deeper into the interior of the rock formation in search of Sugar Plum. After they left the room the Fairy King turned his attention back to the scene outside his window. Funny, he could swear that the male giant was looking right back at him.

~ o ~

"Well," Lois demanded impatiently. What is happening? What do you see?"

Clark looked over at Lois. "That rock is as full of tunnels and chambers as an ant hill. They were talking to their king in one of the upper chambers. Actually they were discussing what to do about us."

"What did they decide to do?" Lois inquired.

"As near as I could tell, they didn't come to any conclusions." Clark shrugged. "They let the subject drop for now and went in search of Sugar Plum. They are a little unhappy that Sugar Plum was being brought into this. I think that they don't really know what she might do or say." Clark glanced back at the rock formation a moment in thought and then proceeded to give Lois a more detailed description of what he had heard and seen.

~ o ~

Lois had been commenting extensively about the strange things that they had seen so far, when she caught sight of what was currently approaching and stopped speaking. Bog and Maryanne were returning, accompanied by an older looking overweight bearded fairy that was riding on a portable throne lifted by eight butterfly-winged knights in armor. He wore a gold crown and carried himself in a very regal manor.

The fourth member of the party was almost as strange looking as Bog. She was about half the size of the other fairies and she was wingless. Her body was a sort of purplish gray color and she was covered with what looked like constantly moving glitter. Her eyes were a pale yellow color that made them really stand out against her purple-gray face. The lower half of her body was long, wide, relatively flat, and tapered to a point at the end. The way she moved made it look like she was swimming through the air like a mermaid through water. The only thing missing from this image was a fish tail.

As the group got closer something was niggling at the back of Lois's mind. There was something strangely familiar about that purple creature but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. The purple 'swimming' fairy was looking back at Lois and Clark with as much curiosity as they were looking at her.

Maryanne indicated the small purplish creature. "This is Sugar Plum." She looked at that individual. "Sugar Plum . . ." Maryanne indicated Lois and Clark. "These outsiders are called Clark and Lois."

Sugar Plum was staring intently at Clark for several seconds before she finally spoke. "You have a tremendously strong aura that is protecting you from 'The Magic', but the effort is drawing a lot of energy from you" She looked over at Lois, who still had a grip on Clarks arm. "It is also protecting your companion as long as she remains in contact with you."

"But it's not protecting her." Clark protested. "She seems to be changing . . . speeding up. And she is floating."

"Those are minor . . . barely worth consideration." Sugar Plum responded dismissively. "They will quickly fade once you leave our forest . . . as long as you leave before the changes become irreversible."

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 4**__**

 _ _( 181028)__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ', and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	4. Chapter 4

**The Western Valley Mystery** **  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

"How long until the effects become irreversible?" Lois asked with a feeling of alarm.

"By the next sunrise." Sugar Plum responded.

Clark remarked. "So as long as we leave before tomorrow morning, Lois will experience no lasting effects?"

Sugar Plum grinned. "Correct."

Clark opened his mouth to say more when he heard the faint sound of a radio feedback squeal. He looked over at the opening in the mountains and froze. "We have a problem." He remarked with a frown.

"What!" Lois exclaimed as she looked toward the prominent cleft in the Barrier Mountains.

"I don't see anything." Maryanne commented at the same time that Lois had spoken.

"There is a man up in that cleft watching us." Clark responded.

"Did he see us floating?" Lois inquired in a worried tone of voice.

"No." Clark shook his head. "I took a quick look around when you first floated and there was no one there. I also checked when we flew over to this fallen tree." He glanced again at the cleft in the mountain wall. "When we were in the village I overheard some villagers commenting about a small group of outsiders that had been seen in the area recently." He shrugged. "I've been trying to keep an eye on that gorge opening since we arrived."

"Can he see the fairies?" Lois asked with a surprising hint of worry. Bog and Maryanne were both looking at Clark with looks of concern.

Clark stared intensely for a moment, pushing his telescopic vision as much as he could. "His binoculars are powerful but not that powerful." Clark replied. "At best he will be able to make out a swarm of butterflies. At this distance he might not be able to make out that much." He glanced around then continued. "We need to find a place where he can't see us."

Sugar Plum pointed to the large nearby cluster of trees. "We could move over there."

"That's where the elves spring festival is." Maryanne remarked as she glanced at Sugar Plum in surprise. She glanced at the nearby copse of trees with a hint of worry in her eyes. "Moving these two over there could cause other problems."

"That will make it more fun." Sugar Plum responded with an impish grin.

Bog had his hand over his face. "This could be a disaster." He looked up at Clark with a sigh and a shrug. "But the surrounding trees would make a very effective screen." Clark found it fascinating that Bog could execute such an intricately delicate movement in his heavily armored exo-skeletal shell.

Lois considered the suggestion to move to the nearby copse of trees for a moment then replied. "We might as well." Her brow furrowed as she continued to speak. "But, with me unconsciously moving so much faster than normal, how do we move over there without giving ourselves away?"

Clark slowly put his arm around her. "I'll take care of that. Just relax and move your legs to match mine." With, what seemed to be agonizing slowness, Clark stood up. Floating just inches off the ground, their feet were still well below the top of the lush ground cover. Then Clark began to drift slowly forward while his legs moved in an extremely slow walking motion. Her sense of time was so radically skewed that Lois had to depend on Clark to control the timing of their movement. Lois began to move her own legs in a mirror image of Clark's legs.

With Clark's arm around her and carefully controlling their movements, Lois and Clark made their slow tortuous way toward the partial security of the large copse of trees. After a short time she noticed that they were not taking a direct route. "You seem to be wandering." She commented curiously.

"I'm trying to make it look like we are just taking a leisurely stroll . . . taking in the sights." He responded to her with a smile. "I don't want our friend up there to think that we are deliberately trying to hide from him." At intervals Clark would slowly point to some random feature while speaking soft endearments to Lois.

As they finally entered the outer edge of the trees, Lois relaxed and Clark set them down on the lush forest floor. Together they strolled forward while carefully watching where they placed their feet and soon found themselves entering a clearing about the size of their house. Nearly half of the clearing was taken up by what looked like a miniature country fair. The area was already starting to fill with elves and fairies as well as some creatures that were far less savory looking.

Near the edge of the clearing was another ancient downed tree that served as a convenient place for Lois and Clark to sit down. Once they were comfortably settled Clark turned his attention to the one they called Sugar Plum. "I have heard the term 'The Magic' mentioned more than once since we arrived in this valley . . . "What exactly is it?"

" 'The Magic' is what makes this place what it is." Sugar Plum responded enigmatically. "It fills the whole valley and shapes everything that lives here. Any living being that stays in the valley for more than the time from sunrise to sunset will become like the rest of the valley inhabitants." She cocked her head. "I have been here a very very long time and seen it happen many times." She glanced over at The Bog King. "I saw Bog's great grandfather arrive here in a giant noisy flying machine that fell into the Dark Forest. He and two others survived and by the next sunrise he had transform into something very much like Bog. One of the other survivors became Bogs great grandmother." She looked over at Bog. "Within one Moon cycle he had established himself as the ruler of the Dark Forest."

Bog looked at Sugar Plum in surprise. "No one ever told me about that!"

At that point the thing that had been niggling at the back of Lois's mind suddenly became clear. Bog bore a strong resemblance to the lost helicopter pilot. And Sugar Plum was a perfect fairy caricature of one of the females in that old tintype picture of the original group of explorers a hundred years ago. "Where did you come from?" She asked Sugar Plum.

Sugar Plum paused a moment then shrugged. "One of the effects of the change is that as it progresses your memories slowly begin to fade until in the end you have no memory of your old life." She glanced around at all the creatures that had paused in their revels to listen to the conversation with the giants. "I am much older than anyone else here so there is no one around that could tell me what went before." She paused with an introspective look on her face. "I have no idea where I came from." She shrugged then turned to Bog. "Most of those that you know were not there to see what happened and your great grandfather had no memory of it."

"I think you're one of the very first to come here. I saw a hundred year old picture of you in the village east of here." Lois remarked. "If I remember right, your name was Sabrina."

Bog and Maryanne looked at each other, lost momentarily in their own world, as they both digested this revelation.

After a few moments deep in her own thoughts Sugar Plum shook herself and cocked her head at Clark. "You are the first to be able to resist the power of 'The Magic'." Her gaze shifted to Lois. "And your aura has significantly slowed the effects of 'The Magic' on your woman."

"But where does this magic come from? . . . And I'm not his woman, I'm his wife." Lois finished with a bit of a huff.

"Whatever," Sugar Plum responded with a roll of her eyes. "It comes from the great sky stone." She responded while gesturing toward where the giant rock formation resided. "It is the source of all of 'The Magic' in this Valley."

"You called it the sky stone?" Queried Clark

"Because, it came down from the sky." She replied. "And over time the Fairy Kings have made it their home." She passed, frowning, then she shifted her gaze toward Lois's middle and her eyebrows went up in surprise. "You may not have as much time as I thought. You need to be out of here by sundown."

"You said earlier that we had 'til sun-up." Lois remarked. "Why the change?"

Sugar Plum looked up to Lois's Face." You're safe until sun-up but the baby is absorbing the magic faster than you are."

"My what?!" Lois exclaimed as she and Clark looked at her middle in stunned surprise, then glanced at each other.

"An un-born baby that young changes faster than normal. The younger, the faster. And she is very young indeed."

"What makes you think I'm pregnant?" Lois inquired suspiciously. It couldn't be true . . . could it?

"I see her aura." Sugar Plum replied with a hint of exasperation at what she apparently saw as obvious. "It's mostly masked by his aura," She indicated Clark. "And her aura looks very similar to his aura. So I didn't see it right away."

Lois looked at Clark. "I'm Pregnant?" She inquired as though seeking corroboration from him.

Clark removed his glasses and stared, eyes narrowed, at her middle for, what seemed to be several seconds. Then he smiled and looked up at her. "She's right. You are pregnant . . . " He glanced at Sugar Plum in surprise. ". . . and it's a girl."

Lois looked at Clark with a hint of panic. "We have to get out of here now, before this ' **magic** ' harms our baby!"

Clark looked worriedly back at her. "I know," He glanced in the direction of the cleft through the mountains. "Our friend is still up there watching. How do we leave without being seen?"

Lois glanced around the clearing searching for answers. The elves' Spring Festival had already started but most of the creatures attending it were congregated around Lois and Clark watching everything that was happening with these curious giants in their midst. Lois had noticed the looks that passed among them as the conversation progressed. Now she saw concern on most of their faces.

Bog looked at Sugar Plum with an expression of inquiry on his face and she responded before he could ask. "They are honorable people. I believe they can be trusted to keep our secrets."

After a thoughtful moment, The Bog King turned to Clark and inquired. "Am I to understand, from what you just said, that you can see through things, like the trees?"

Clark nodded.

Bog glanced around the clearing then addressed a small knot of the more unsavory looking characters. One looked a bit like an anthropomorphic frog. The other two looked like nothing Lois had ever seen before except perhaps in a nightmare. "Thang, Stuff, Brutis, gather as many of the Dark Forest Guards as you can find and mount up."

A minute later there were a few dozen of the tiny nightmarish creatures mounted on, larger than normal, dragonflys and gathered before the Bog King. Bog turned toward Clark. "Keep your eyes on us. The distraction will not last long so when you see your chance, you must leave here as quickly as you can." Bog then took off, followed closely by the dragonflies and their strange looking riders.

Clark saw the swarm spread out as they exited the trees flying dangerously close to the ground at very high speeds. He doubted that the watcher in the cleft could even see them from that distance. The swarm soon disappeared into the dark swampy forest that ringed the valley but Clark was still able to follow their advance. A minute later the strange group burst from the other side of the Dark Forest and swarmed up the rise toward the cleft. The next instant the watcher found himself engulfed in a swarm of flying things that were moving too fast for him to make out clearly.

Clark turned his attention to Lois wrapping his arms securely around her. "Now's our chance!" He lifted off and accelerated, rapidly, straight up. As they cleared the tree tops Lois glanced toward the gorge and saw a distant figure wildly waving his arms. By then, they were already moving fast, and within seconds they were going just below the speed of sound.

Clark finally came to a stop several thousand feet up and he looked down at the cleft. The swarm was already disbursing from the frantically flailing watcher and disappearing back into the Dark Forest. As far as he could tell, the watcher had not managed to hit any of his attackers. After a long period spent trying to calm down, the watcher settled back into position and resumed his vigil. Meanwhile Lois and Clark soared, silently above him, moving toward the other end of the gorge. Clark soon dropped down to where they had been forced to leave their car.

After he set Lois down, Clark noticed a lot of extra footprints in the dirt around the car. He scanned the car and spotted a tracking device inside the rear right fender. He also found a listening device under the driver's seat. A quick blast of heat vision shorted out the bug and the tracker was left lying in the nearby shrubs as the car pulled away.

Lois glanced at the clock in the car's dashboard. "I still seem to be moving too fast." She remarked worriedly."

Clark thought a moment before responding. "Based on what Sugar Plum said, the effects should probably wear off by tomorrow morning." He remarked soothingly

"They found and bugged our car. What should we do?" She asked, a hint of worry still in her voice.

Clark thought a moment. "Our room is on the third floor and the balcony faces away from the rest of the village. We can sneak in through the balcony and lay low for a while. Meanwhile I need to hide this car."

Clark pulled into a secluded parking spot in a small roadside camping area. After locking the car he turned to find Lois floating a couple of feet off the ground.

She dropped gently to the ground. "I think that I'm really starting to get the hang of this. It's a shame that it won't last very long." She remarked with a half hearted grin.

Clark held out his hand to her. "Shall we?"

She took his hand. "Let's fly."

Together they rose up into the twilight. Then with Clark's hand to provide guidance they headed toward the village. At first Lois thought that they were going way too slow then realized that this was due to her distorted time sense. Still she was enjoying the sensation of flying partially under her own power. And the view from up here was, as usual, spectacular.

With a sigh Lois looked away from the view and focused on Clark. "I just wish I had more control over this thing than just up and down."

Clark shrugged. "If we thought that this ability would last, I would get you one of those flying suits we saw on that sports channel special last year and you could take sky diving lessons." He shrugged again. "But we know that this isn't going to last long enough for that."

She sighed in response. "I know but it is a pleasant thought." She thought a moment then inquired. "Do you know how fast time is actually passing for us?"

He contemplated the question for a moment before responding. "Actually you have already slowed down some. I think time is now moving about seven times faster than normal for you."

They came down and landed on their third floor balcony. "Is the room secure?" She asked cautiously.

Clark quickly scanned their room. "The room is empty now but somebody has searched it."

"Damn," Lois exclaimed looking in through the glass balcony door. "And they didn't even try to hide it." She glanced at Clark. "This mess suggests that they wanted to intimidate us. They're a dangerous bunch, whoever they are."

He looked a little closer at the main door. "There is some kind of electronic device at the base of the front door." He used his special vision to scan the device more closely. "It has a transmitter but no microphone or camera . . . I think it just signals when the door is opened." He narrowed his eyes and a thin red beam appeared for just a second then a puff of smoke erupted from the device on the door. "It won't be sending any signals now." Another quick scan and Clark announced that the room was clean. He opened the door and entered the room, alert for any other surprises.

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 5**__**

 _ _( 181028)__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ', and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	5. Chapter 5

**The Western Valley Mystery** **  
** _By Thomas Mc_

* * *

 ** _Author's Notes :_** _One complaint I've always had with Superman stories is the ease with which the bad guys always manage to take Superman unaware where kryptonite is concerned. There's an old saying: Fool me once, shame on you . . . fool me twice, shame on me. Carrying kryptonite in a lead box should be like advertising the villain's intent and there are so many ways that Clark could easily deal with that problem.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

As Clark looked around at the mess left in the room he heard a quiet chuckle and looked back at Lois. She was floating a few inches off the floor and with a shove on the door jam, propelled herself into the room. "Having fun?" He inquired.

"Actually I am." She replied with a large grin of child-like glee. She casually kicked out at a heavy overstuffed chair near the door and sent herself soaring toward a corner between the ceiling and the far wall, emitting a quiet "Weee!" as she passed Clark. She caught herself and remained floating against the ceiling while grinning back at Clark.

Clark couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"I'm really going to miss this when it finally wears off." She reported.

Clark floated up and joined her on the ceiling. "It does open up some interesting possibilities." He glanced around at the mess made of the room. "Why don't I clean this up and then we can explore those possibilities." He gave her a comically exaggerated leer.

"Ok." She responded with an equally exaggerated coy look. "I'll help with the clean up."

With the two of them moving at near super speed, they had the room tidied up in two minutes. Then they returned to the ceiling.

"Now, where were we?" Lois inquired, again sporting a coy innocent look.

Clark leered at her. "I believe I was about to ravish you on the ceiling."

She grinned back at him. "Oh, Mister Kent!"

~ o ~

Gentle caresses roused Lois from sleep. She glanced over at her husband and lover. "Is it morning already?" She inquired with a sleepy yawn.

"No." Clark replied. "But we are going to have visitors soon." He grinned. "By the way, you're floating." He remarked as he shifted away from her.

She looked around, confirming the truth of his statement. "I thought Sugar Plum said that the effects would have worn off by now."

Clark shrugged. "You don't appear to be moving at super speed anymore . . ." He looked her over quickly. ". . . and the baby's heart rate has slowed considerably but it is still about five times faster than normal." He cocked his head. "You apparently still have the ability to float." He shifted his gaze to the door into the hallway then to the heavy morning mist beyond the balcony door. "Our visitors will be here soon. You had better get dressed in something warm while I deal with this room."

Lois dropped gently down to the floor. She had become quite adept at controlling her ability to float though she still had no horizontal control. While she quickly dressed for the cool mist outside, Clark was moving around the room too fast for her to follow. By the time she was dressed, the room looked exactly like it had when they had arrived last night. She glanced quizzically at Clark.

Clark grinned back at her. "We don't want anyone to know we have returned just yet." He opened the balcony door. "After you my love."

Lois stepped out into the early morning mist and began to float upward. Clark stepped out, closed the door and followed her up into the sky. Lois stopped rising as soon as the roof below had disappeared in the mist. Clark stopped right next to her and took her hand to keep her from drifting away from him.

"Now let us see what our visitors are up to, shall we." He then concentrated his special vision and hearing on the two men approaching their room.

~ o ~

One of the men was dressed in a military uniform and looked strangely familiar to Clark. The other man was dressed in a dark business suit. The military man pulled his gun as they approached the door.

"Put that thing away." The suit admonished him. "We can't afford to call any attention to ourselves."

The military man reluctantly put his weapon away. The suit produced a key and opened the door.

The suit took one look around the room and shook his head. "There was no reason for your men to make such a mess when you searched the place. As soon as possible I want you to send a couple of your men back to clean this place up. If the maid looks in here and see's this mess she might get the local cops involved." He looked intently at the military man. "These villagers are already becoming a problem as it is." He looked down at the device attached to the hall door. "Well, it doesn't seem to be working. That would explain the lack of response to the test signal." He knelt down for a closer look. "Looks like one of the components burned out." He turned and headed out the door. "Let's go before someone spots us."

~ o ~

Hovering in the air just above the roof Clark was quietly reporting everything he saw and heard to Lois. "The military man was saying that he was afraid that messing with the two reporters might draw the attention of the alien creature." That was when Clark finally realized where he had last seen that military man. "One of our visitors is a leftover from Bureau 39. I don't recognize the other one."

"Bureau 39?" Lois reacted with surprise. "I thought that bunch was defunct."

Clark watched the two men headed toward a, rarely used, side door of the inn. "Apparently there are still a few of them around." Clark responded quietly as he took Lois's hand. "They're coming out now."

Lois nodded her understanding and together they quietly followed the two men, staying just high enough that the mist would hide them. Unfortunately that meant that Lois could not see their quarry either.

After a short walk the two men got into an off-road truck and headed toward the edge of the village. At that moment Lois gave a quietly startled "Ooo!"

Clark paused in mid air. "What's wrong?" He asked, keeping his voice low despite his worry.

She looked up at him with a hint of wonder. "I think I just felt Lucy move."

"Lucy?" He inquired.

"Well I always thought that if we ever had another girl, I would like to name her Lucy." She responded.

"Well then Lucy it is." Clark remarked with a grin then gave a quizzical look. "But isn't it too early to feel her moving?"

Lois shrugged. "You said that her heart was still beating faster than normal. Maybe that means that she is also developing faster as well."

Clark contemplated that concept for a few seconds then quickly glanced downward at her middle. "Lucy seems to be doing OK despite her accelerated development." He glanced to their left. ". . . but if we don't get moving we're going to lose those two guys." He began moving again, drawing Lois by the hand, and following the two men that only he could see through the mist. Soon the Jeep was headed up into the local foothills. After about thirty minutes of driving over rough terrain, the Jeep came to a clearing occupied by a small military type encampment. The driver parked next to the one semi-permanent building in the middle of the camp. The two men entered the building and Clark moved Lois and himself upward about a dozen feet. As they hovered, undetected in the morning mist, Clark followed the two men with his special vision and hearing. In his own mind he had dubbed them Suit A and Bureau A.

Clark followed the two men's advance and what he saw drew a startled remark from him. "Colonel Cash?"

"What?" Lois looked at him, just as unsettled as Clark had sounded.

"It looks like Colonel Cash is running this show." Clark responded.

"I thought he was in prison." She remarked.

"Apparently, he got out." Clark expression showed serious concentration then he frowned. "And there's a small lead box on his desk, and a small lead lined safe in the bottom drawer of the desk."

~ o ~

Colonel Cash was talking to a second suit (Clark dubbed him Suit B) and looked up when the first two men entered the room. "Well, what did you find?" He snapped out.

Bureau A responded. "The room has not been disturbed since we searched it. It looks like something in the sensor's circuits overheated and burned out."

Suit B interrupted. "I still think it was a mistake for them to leave the room trashed the way you did. Those two reporters are known to have ties with Superman and the last thing we need, at this point, is to have Superman take an interest in what is going on out here."

"Don't worry about the alien creature." Colonel Cash retorted as he toyed with the small metal box on his desk. "I've got that possibility covered." At that moment a second military man (Now labeled Military B) entered the room. Cash turned his attention to military B. "Well what did our observer report?" He snapped.

Military B responded. "The two reporters were last seen entering the grove of trees near the meteor last evening and have not been seen since. He did say that he caught occasional glimpses of firelight coming from inside the grove."

"Did he find any indication of how those two managed to get in there in the first place?" Cash demanded.

"No, Sir." Military B responded. "He said that he had searched the entire area around the opening. He found a few signs that they made it as far as the valley end of the opening, but he has found no indications of how they got past the swamp and into the valley itself."

Cash frowned in his annoyance at the lack of useful information. "Tell him to keep looking." Cash ordered. "Otherwise we will have to grab them when they return and force them to tell us how they got in."

"You can't do that." Suit B objected. "This operation is highly illegal and if news of our involvement got out, we would all be in deep trouble."

"Once we're done with them we will dispose of them in that swamp that surrounds the valley." Cash responded in an annoyed tone at the man's squeamishness.

~ o ~

As soon as Clark relayed that conversation, Lois pulled her hand free from Clark and took out her cell phone. "We have to get the authorities involved in this." To her surprise there was a signal, so she dialed the Daily Planet and had Jimmy check on the status of Colonel Cash. After a quick check Jimmy reported that Cash was supposed to still be in prison.

"Jimmy, Cash is out here in an encampment near the village where Clark and I are staying. There are also a couple of Bureau 39 goons out here as well." She handed the phone to Clark so he could describe what he could see of the camp.

She retrieved the phone. "We don't think that the local police have been compromised but since Bureau 39 appears to be involved and working with Cash, I think we need you to get hold of Chief Henderson and tell him what we told you. He can bring the right people in on this." She glanced at Clark. "Also tell him that we overheard Cash talking about kidnapping and killing both of us so we have gone into hiding. And call me back to let us know what is happening." As soon as Jimmy acknowledged her instructions she closed her phone. "I'm really starting to like this thing." She stuffed it into her pocket.

Clark looked downward. "Uh-oh!" Clark remarked quietly.

"What?" Lois inquired.

"Another soldier type just informed Cash that they have picked up a radio signal from somewhere nearby." He looked back at Lois. "I think they detected your cell phone signal."

Lois responded by turning off the phone's power switch. "Now what do we do? They're going to be looking for a radio source." She glanced downward into the dense mist. "It's a good bet that Cash has kryptonite in that lead box of his, so Superman is out of the question for now. Every time that you've tangled with kryptonite, you have nearly died, and I am way too young to become a widow." She sighed and shook her head. "We also can't risk returning to our room and being caught off guard by Cash's men."

"In that case we find a safe place to camp somewhere near enough so that I can keep an eye on them but far enough away that they aren't likely to find us. Then we wait for the cavalry to arrive." Clark responded with a shrug. "In the meantime, maybe I can figure out a way to safely neutralize his kryptonite."

"Don't you go taking any unnecessary risks around that stuff." Lois ordered with a serious frown. "It's just not worth the risk of losing you."

"Yes, ma'am." Clark responded with a smirk then his expression became contrite at the glare that she gave him.

~ o ~

Clark set Lois down in a small clearing beneath a large oak tree that was completely surrounded by a wide ring of dense thorny bushes. Then he had stated that he wouldn't be gone long and vanished. Lois glanced around at the small secluded clearing with a frown. Outdoor camping had never appealed to her. She could survive under these primitive conditions but that didn't mean she liked it. Her mind wandered back to the time she had been stuck in the wilds of the Congo, running from some angry gun runners. They had caught her and would have killed her but she had barely managed to escape.

After ten minutes that seemed like hours, Lois was starting to get seriously worried. She decided to go try to find Clark and began looking for a way through the thorny bushes. She soon discovered two things. First, the thorns were abundant, very sharp and painful. Second there were no openings and the bushes were too dense to see through. Trying to slip between them was painfully futile.

Twenty minutes later Clark returned to a very frustrated and distraught Lois. He was carrying a large load of basic camping equipment and a couple of changes of clothes from home. After a few minutes to calm and reassure Lois, he began to set up camp at super speed. A few seconds later and they had a cozy little camouflaged camp site. A small iron kettle filled with water and heated by Clark's heat vision was almost as good as a cozy camp fire without the smoke and flames that could give their location away.

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 6**__**

 _ _( 181028 )__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ', a very unusual movie, and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	6. Chapter 6

**The Western Valley Mystery** **  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Lois and Clark were cuddled up under the tree in their in their hidden camp site and talking about their strange adventure inside the Western Valley and some of the things that they had learned or figured out. Clark was speaking. "I was able to get a good idea of the time differential while we were in the valley by counting your heartbeats after we entered the community grove versus the time passage on my watch and also by timing the speed at which they spoke. I would estimate that they are experiencing everything at about twelve time's normal speed."

Lois thought a moment before responding. "Then at their accelerated rate one month is the equivalent of a year. A day would seem like twelve days to them. I wonder how long they live."

"I overheard a short remark while we were in the community grove that an average lifespan is about 130 moons."

Lois thought a moment then frowned. "But that is only about eleven years."

Clark shrugged. "That's true but, to their perspective, that would be the equivalent of living 130 years." He opened his mouth to say more then paused and held up his hand for silence. His attitude suggesting that he was listening to something.

"Cash is ranting about having detected the radiation of a kryptonite mother lode. Then to have it almost within his reach, only to be blocked from it by that . . . Ahh" Clark blushed bright red and shook his head. "I can't repeat that . . . Cash just used some very colorful adjectives to describe the surrounding bog.

"Kryptonite?" Lois looked back at him appalled.

"Relax, after I realized that the crystal in Bog's staff was Kryptonite, I kept a lookout for any more of it. All I saw was a glowing silvery kryptonite-like substance that ran in veins all through that rock formation. From some of the things Doctor Klein said about the difference between red kryptonite and green kryptonite I think that silvery crystal is just another type of kryptonite isotope that doesn't affect me but does affect normal humans. I am sure that it is the source of the 'Magic' that Sugar Plum was talking about."

Lois thought about it for a moment then responded. "Then even if he got his hands on it, that particular form of kryptonite, if that's what it is, would be useless to him. Sugar Plum said that it had no effect on you."

Clark shook his head. "Actually, she said that my aura protected me from its effects."

"How ironic." She commented with a chuckle. "Cash finally finds a descent source of kryptonite and it has no effect on you but can have detrimental effects on normal humans." She gave a snort of a laugh. Can you just see Colonel Cash as a dragonfly-man or, even worse, a butterfly-man?" She thought for a moment then shook her head. "If it wasn't for the trouble he would probably cause the fairies, I would suggest that we just drop him in the valley and give him what he wants. In a few days he would be inconsequential and in ten years or so he would cease to be anybody's problem." She thought a moment then looked at Clark.

They both shook their heads. "Naa!"

Lois glanced over at the dense thorn bushes. "So what do we do now?" Lois inquired.

Clark shrugged. "Now we wait." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. "I brought all of the standard stake-out supplies." He began shuffling the cards. "There's a Scrabble game in the tent if you would prefer."

"Oh, just shut up and deal, Flyboy." She retorted in annoyance though the corners of her mouth were trying to curve up and there was a hint of amusement in her voice.

~ o ~

After a few hours their card games had degenerated into silliness as Lois would get more outrageously creative in bending the rules of whatever game they were playing. Clark was staring at his cards desperately trying not to laugh at the latest twisted knot of logic that Lois was trying to execute in her bid to win. The next moment Clark looked up from his cards in barely concealed amusement at Lois when she jumped to her feet and began pacing while muttering incoherently to herself. "Pacing won't improve your hand." He remarked as he slowly lost his battle with laughter.

Lois paused. "It's not funny." She groaned in frustration. "It's been three hours. Why hasn't Jimmy called back yet?"

Clark tried to restrain a grin that threatened to appear. "Perhaps it's because you turned your phone off." He reasoned.

Her jaw dropped then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She glared at Clark's unrepentant grin. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Clark continued to grin as he responded with a shrug. "This is the first time you've said anything about it and I've enjoyed having your undivided attention without any chance of Jimmy interrupting us."

Lois glared back at Clark, emitting an annoyed growl. "Oh, you . . . you . . . Kryptonian!" She finished in an exasperated huff though there was a hint of a grin sneaking across her face. She retrieved her phone from her pocket. When she turned it on it responded with a beeping announcement of messages. She pushed the button to retrieve the messages.

Jimmy Olsen's voice responded. "Lois . . . Lois are you there? . . . Lois, answer your phone . . . What do I do now . . . Well I told Henderson everything you told me and he assured me that he would (Beep)"

There was a second of silence then. "It's Jimmy. I just got a call back from Henderson. He called a friend at the FBI. He said that they will be there tomorrow morning. He also told me to tell you to (Beep)"

Lois shook her head then looked over at Clark who, thanks to his enhanced senses, was keeping tabs on the bureau 39 encampment. "Anything new?" She queried.

"Nothing much." Clark shook his head. "Cash is busy haranguing his men over their inability to find us or to find a way through to the center of the valley." He paused and cringed. "That man certainly has a colorful way of speaking." He blinked then and his face turned bright red and eyes opened wide. "I'm pretty sure that is not anatomically possible." He shook himself and returned his attention fully on Lois. "It's very late and you need to get some sleep."

~ o ~

Lois was dreaming of flying with Clark. She had always loved flying with Clark but this time she knew she was dreaming because it felt different. She sighed softly as she shifted her position slightly under Clark's arm. Then she frowned. Clarks arm felt unusually rough.

Then she heard Clarks voice. "Lois?"

She opened her eyes to see Clark looking up at her from the base of the tree. She glanced around to find that she was pressed up against the bottom of a large tree branch. It took just a moment for her to regain control and gently float down to the ground. There was a hint of worry in her eyes and voice. "I thought the effects of the kryptonite were supposed to wear off by now."

Clark stepped up to her and took her hands. "Some of it has. You're no longer operating at super speed." He paused momentarily listening then resumed. "Yours and Lucy's heart rates have returned to normal." He cocked his head studying her face. "But, for some reason you still have the ability to float. I don't know why." He shrugged. "Maybe it just takes a little longer for that effect to wear off."

A second later Lois's phone beeped. It was Henderson announcing that they had raided the Bureau 39 encampment with the help of the local police and the FBI. They had captured almost the entire group but Colonel Cash had managed to slip through and escape. Henderson suggested to Lois that she and Clark should remain where they were until they had run Cash to ground. Lois gave a non-committal response and closed her phone.

"That's just great!" Lois ranted. "Cash is still out there loose and Henderson wants us to stay hidden."

"I could go up high and look for him." Clark suggested.

"Not without me." Lois insisted. "Cash is probably already on the lookout for you and he is sure to have some kryptonite handy." She argued. "But he would never expect me and kryptonite won't affect me."

Clark shook his head. "You are not invulnerable and I can stay out of the range of any kryptonite he might have." He spun into his Superman uniform and started to rise from the ground.

Lois floated up and grabbed his arm. "I'm still going with you and if necessary I can stay high enough that he can't tell that it's me." She stared into his eyes. "You need me to watch your back and I am going to make sure that little Lucy and her siblings don't have to grow up without a father."

Clark took one look at the determined expression on Lois's face and knew that this was an argument that he could not win. He took a deep slow breath. "Alright, but you are to stay out of sight if we find him."

"He'll never see me." She assured him.

With another deep breath he started rising rapidly until they were around two thousand feet up. "At this altitude, even if he spots us he won't be able to identify you."

She nodded as they began to move slowly in a large circular search pattern. Clark was using his special vision powers to closely search every inch of the ground through the trees. Meanwhile Lois simply watched for any visible movement on the landscape below them. They had been at it for over an hour when Lois noticed that they were getting close to the village that they had been staying in. She turned her attention to the village trying to identify the various structures. This early in the morning there weren't that many people out and about. She was able to identify the inn where they had been staying. Then she noticed a movement between some buildings near the inn. From this distance she couldn't make out more than a small shadowy figure that appeared to be moving stealthily toward the inn.

"Clark, look over there . . ." She drew his attention and pointed. ". . . Near the inn. I thought I saw someone between those two rows of buildings."

Clark scanned where she pointed with his enhanced vision. After a few seconds he spotted what she had seen. "It's Cash alright." He informed her.

At that moment Cash sprinted across a narrow open space and entered the side door into the inn. With his x-ray vision Clark followed his progress up the back staircase and into their third floor room. Cash looked around the room then pulled a small gray box from his pocket. Clark concentrated his attention on the box.

"He's carrying a lead box." Clark remarked.

"Kryptonite!" Lois ground out. "You can't get near him." Lois responded.

"Call Henderson." Clark responded. "Tell him where Cash is holed up."

Lois pulled her Cell phone and dialed.

"Henderson, it's Lois. We found Cash."

"He's hiding in room 302 of the Greenwood Inn."

"Don't worry. Cash has no idea where we are."

"Henderson . . . Henderson . . ." She looked at her phone. "Damn, the battery is dead."

"He got the location though, right?" Clark inquired.

"Yea, it cut out while he was fussing at me about staying out of danger." She responded.

"Like that will ever happen." Clark snorted then he held up his hand as she opened her mouth with a retort. "Cash is getting a phone call," Clark listened a moment then continued speaking. "Someone just called him and told him that they know where he is and are coming for him. He's about to leave. I have to stop him."

"You can't get near him." She insisted. "He has kryptonite."

Clark sighed. "As long as I stay out of range of the kryptonite, he can't hurt me." He quickly dropped toward the balcony to their room with Lois following close behind him. He stopped at the top of the inn's roofline. "Lois, I want you to stay here out of sight. He still has his gun and you are not invulnerable. Also you have little Lucy to look out for."

Lois floated there with her arms folded in determination. Clark's unwavering gaze met her stubborn frown. The battle of wills lasted only a second then Lois relented. "You don't fight fair . . . OK you win . . . this time"

Lois reached out and grabbed the edge of the roof to stop herself from drifting in the light breeze. Clark merely nodded then dropped down to their balcony. He stopped at the edge of the balcony and a short burst of super breath caused the balcony doors to bang open.

Cash swung around at the sound. In his left hand was the lead box. "Superman!" He exclaimed.

"Stay where you are Cash." Clark ordered in his stern Superman voice. "You can't escape me."

Cash was fidgeting with the lead box in his left hand. "Don't be so sure, alien."

The back of the box was toward him and Clark focused on the visible hinge. The next second the hinge was glowing a dull red. Cash yelled in pain and dropped the box. He waved his singed hand in the air as he glared back at Superman.

"Your box is welded shut, Cash." Clark informed him. "Your kryptonite will be of no use to you now."

Cash drew his pistol. "Don't be so sure of that." He responded and fired.

Clark's eyes grew wide and he dodged as Cash pulled the trigger. He felt a terrible burn in his right side and dropped to the balcony floor. As Superman lay on the floor gasping for breath, Cash casually strolled toward him, waving his gun almost negligently. Cash stopped just out of Superman's reach. "Kryptonite bullets." He remarked with a smirk then aimed at Superman's head.

The next instant Lois landed feet first on Cash's head. Lois and Cash both hit the stone floor hard and he knocked himself out. His gun skittered across the balcony and came to rest under one of the two divans that sat out there. Lois picked herself up unsteadily and gave Cash one more kick, her face twisting in pain. She had undoubtedly sprained her ankle when she landed on Cash. She turned to kneel beside Clark. His eyes were clouded in pain as he looked up at her.

She looked at his side and could see blood welling up out of the wound. A quick examination revealed a hard lump on his back that was about even with the bleeding wound in his side. "I have to get this out, now."

Clark nodded. Lois stumbled unsteadily back into the room and after rummaging through her suitcase found a small pocket knife. She returned and cut the skin over the lump. With the tip of the knife, she popped the green glowing projectile from his body. She hobbled into the bathroom and flushed the bullet down the toilet then returned to Clark's side. Cash chose that moment to groan and shift his arms. Lois reached over and shoved Cashes head down against the stone floor and Cash was again quiet. Lois turned her attention back to Clark. "Can you stand?" She asked.

"I can manage." He responded weakly.

"Henderson and his men will be here soon." She remarked. "We need to get you into some of Clark's clothes."

She helped him into the room and onto the bed. Then she quickly helped him out of the Superman suit and into some of his camping clothes. With the small knife she cut two holes in the shirt over the two still bleeding wounds then wound a torn pillowcase around his middle over the wounds. She then retrieved the still very warm lead box from the floor. She looked around indecisively then quickly stuffed it under her pillow just as Henderson burst into the room followed by a police paramedic, two local police officers and another Metropolis Detective. "Cash is on the balcony." She remarked. "He was warned that you were coming. The last number on his phone should tell you who tipped him off."

 ** _ _ **Continued in Part 7**__**

 _ _( 181028)__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ', and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	7. Chapter 7

**The Western Valley Mystery** **  
** _By Thomas Mc_ **  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

Detective Henderson eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. He turned to the police paramedic and pointed to Clark. "See to that man's injuries. The rest of you come with me." He headed out onto the balcony and quickly scanned the scene getting everything fixed in his mind. Cash was laid out on the balcony floor, moaning and feebly moving. Henderson ordered one of the local officers to cuff Colonel Cash then he sent both local officers to fetch a stretcher to remove Cash. He then told the other detective to get the victims' statements.

Once Henderson was relatively alone on the balcony he conducted a cursory search of the area. He soon found Colonel Cash's gun under the divan. Handling it carefully so as not to disturb any finger prints, he popped the magazine clip from the gun, again being careful not to disturb any fingerprints. His eyes grew wide at the green glow coming from inside the magazine. The first three bullets that he popped out glowed bright green, even in the morning sun. He put those in his pocket. The rest of the bullets were normal. He put the clip back in the gun and placed it back where he had found it. The next thing he did was to find Cash's cell phone and check his call list. The last number was not familiar to him but it was local. He entered the number into his own phone but did not call it. By the time the two officers returned with the stretcher the crime scene was back exactly the way it had been when he arrived except for the three bullets in his pocket.

While the two officers were loading Cash onto the stretcher the other detective came out, closing his notebook. "I've all the basic information, Inspector." The detective reported.

Henderson nodded his acknowledgement. He turned and pointed to Cash while addressing the two local officers. "Check that man's pockets, and then remove that piece of trash." He turned back to the other detective. "Detective Wolf, you can start processing this crime scene." He headed toward the balcony door. "I'll be back in a few minutes, after I report in."

Henderson strode quickly through the room and out to the corridor. He quickly descended to the ground floor and exited the inn. He entered his car and pulled a medium sized lead lock box that he had started to take with him any time there was even a faint possibility that he might encounter kryptonite. He wrapped the three kryptonite bullets in a paper towel and locked them into the box. Once that was done, he radioed the Metropolis FBI office and told them that the escaped Colonel Cash had been found. Hev informed them that they could retrieve him back in Metropolis the next evening. After that, he headed back up to Lois and Clark's room. In the lobby he passed the two officers carrying the stretcher containing a, still barely, conscious Cash.

Henderson paused to speak to the two officers. "Take him to the local emergency room and have him checked out. Stay with him at all times and be very careful. No one is to be left alone with him. He's slippery and, even now, he's very dangerous." The two officers acknowledged his orders and he continued toward Lois and Clark's room.

Henderson came over to where the paramedic was wrapping a bandage around Lois's ankle. "How are they?" He inquired.

The paramedic finished wrapping her ankle the spoke. "The bullet went through his side and cracked a rib along the way. The wound is a clean through and through and the rib is only cracked, not broken. The bleeding has almost stopped and I gave him an antibiotic to prevent infection so Mister Kent should be just fine. Miss Lane has sustained a moderate sprained ankle so she should stay off that foot for a few days."

At that point, the Detective Wolf entered the room carrying a half dozen evidence bags. "I've finished with the crime scene." He reported.

Henderson nodded. "You go ahead and take that stuff back to the lab. I'll catch up with you in a bit. I just want to ask these two a few questions." He watched the detective leave then Lois and Henderson both showed signs of relief. Henderson Glanced back and forth between Clark and Lois then spoke to Clark. "That was too close. How are you doing Clark?"

"My powers are out of commission. Fortunately Lois got the bullet out fairly quickly so they should return by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Henderson nodded. "I found three kryptonite bullets in Cash's Gun." He held up his hand to forestall any comment from Lois. "The bullets are safely tucked away in my little lock box for now." He told them. "I will make sure that they are properly disposed of."

Lois reached under the nearest pillow and pulled out a small gray box. Something could clearly be heard rattling around inside. "While you're at it, you might as well take care of this, too." She handed the heavy box to Henderson. "Cash was going to use this on Clark but we already knew about it and Clark beat him to the punch." She sighed deeply. "We never expected him to have a gun with kryptonite bullets as well."

Henderson examined the box and his eyebrows shot up when he noticed that one of the hinges was half melted. "Smart move, Clark. You almost had his kryptonite ploy stymied." He shook his head. "Too bad he also had that gun." Henderson put the box in his pocket. "I have a renegade Colonel to question and lots of evidence to process." He walked to the door then paused with his hand on the knob. "I'll let you know if I find anything interesting." Then he exited the room.

Clark turned to Lois. "Let's get this typed up and sent off to Perry."

Lois and Clark spent a couple of hours arguing, good naturedly, over what to put into the story and what to leave out. Then as Clark was typing they discussed how to word certain parts of the story. Once they had an acceptable story, including a short sidebar about Colonel Cash's history, they sent it to Perry.

Once the story was sent they went downstairs to get something to eat. They were greeted cheerfully by everyone that they encountered. They were both bemused by the new extremely friendly attitude of everyone. When they had first come to the village everyone had been a bit stand-offish and it had taken every bit of Clark's considerable charm to get them to open up. Apparently the villagers now viewed Lois and Clark as heroes for getting rid of the band of very unpleasant military types that had been annoying everyone for most of the last year and a half.

Lois and Clark ended up spending a pleasant day fraternizing with the locals as well as acquiring enough information to fill out a couple of side bars on the village. They had acquired several anecdotes about the villager's interactions with the various outsiders that took an interest in the Western Valley.

That evening they sent their stories into Perry and turned in early, though, it was very late by the time they finally went to sleep. Tomorrow morning they would head back to Metropolis.

~ o ~

Clark awoke to the soft tone of his wife's voice. "Clark, the sun is up . . . and so am I."

He pried one eye open to behold Lois floating about two feet above him. "You're still floating?"

"Apparently so." She responded with a hint of worry. "This was supposed to wear off by now." She floated down to land on Clark. They both smiled and then she rolled off of him. "I'm afraid it might be affecting Lucy."

Clark quickly scanned her middle. "I don't see any problems with Lucy." He reached out and took her hand. "She appears perfectly normal as far as I can see." He jumped out of bed and quickly put on some clothes. "I'll go to see Sugar Plum and see what she says about this."

Lois was also pulling on some clothes. "I'm going with you."

"That might not be a good idea." Clark remarked with a frown.

"Never- the-less, I'm coming with you." She responded with a determined frown. "I should be safe as long as I don't go past the end of the gorge. That seems to be the limit of the Magic's effect."

Clark shrugged his acquiescence. He knew that look. She was not going to be dissuaded from her chosen path.

~ o ~

Lois and Clark came to land at the end of the gorge overlooking The Western Valley. He turned to face her. "Just promise me you won't go beyond this point." Clark beseeched her. "I will try to bring Sugar Plum here."

Lois grumbled but she knew that Clark was right. They really didn't know that much about all the effects of the strange force that the inhabitants of the valley called 'The Magic'. Exposing herself and her unborn baby to The Magic was way too risky. Inside Lois was bemused by how being a mother had affected her definition of too dangerous.

Lois watched as Clark flew off to the stone formation in the center of the valley. By the time he reached it he was too far away for her to tell what he was doing. After several minutes he started back toward her but he was moving much slower than his trip out. When he was about a hundred feet out Lois was able to make out the tiny purplish creature flying beside Clark. A short time later Clark was again by Lois's side and Sugar Plum was floating about twelve feet away.

Sugar Plum had spent several seconds studying Lois intently. Lois was starting to fidget under the intense scrutiny when Sugar plum began making the characteristic tinkling bell like sounds that was her highly accelerated speech. Although Sugar Plum had initially been moving almost too rapidly to follow, Lois got the distinct impression that she was starting to slow down and her face was showing signs of strain about something.

After a couple of quick nods from Clark, Sugar Plum turned and headed rapidly back into the valley.

"Well?" Lois inquired as Clark continued to watch the strange purple fairy moving away from them.

Clark turned to Lois. "She said that you are still floating because of a side effect of the baby's aura which continues to feed back the small amount of magic still in you. It has caused what remains of 'The Magic' to become enmeshed in your own aura."

"So what does that mean?" Lois asked as her face clouded with uncertainty, mixed with a hint of annoyance. "And how will it affect Lucy?"

"She said that Lucy will suffer no side effects from the exposure, though your pregnancy will probably end up being shorter by about a month to a month and a half." Clark gave her a small smile. "As far as the effects on you, she said that, for now, the magic has become a part of you. Either your body will adjust and the effects of the magic will become permanent, or it won't adjust and the floating will go away once the baby is born."

Lois cocked her head looking thoughtful as she considered the ramifications of her situation. "So I can count on this lasting at least until Lucy is born?"

"That's about the size of it." Clark responded with a shrug. A grin spread across his face. "I guess that means I will have to tie you to the bed at night."

Lois gave him a sharp glair. "In your dreams, Flyboy."

~ o ~

Chief Inspector Henderson looked up at the knock on the interrogation room door. "Yes, what is it?"

An officer stuck his head into the room. "You said that you wanted to be notified as soon as Lois Lane and Clark Kent arrived to give their statements."

Henderson sighed and glanced over at Colonel Cash who was currently handcuffed to the table between them then looked toward the door. "Fine, I'll be out in a minute." He turned back to face Cash. "You really screwed up this time. Between the evidence we found at your camp and the sworn statements from Clark and Lois, you will be lucky if you ever see sunlight again." He stood up and exited the room.

As Henderson shut the interrogation room door it gave a little bounce and drifted open about a half inch. Henderson noticed this and smiled. There was a repairman scheduled to come out and fix that in a couple of hours. For now however, it was part of a little play they would be putting on for Cash's benefit. He faced Lois and Clark with a hint of a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

Henderson spoke first. "Well what did you find out?"

Clark was the one to respond. "Superman went back out to the valley to retrieve a small piece of the rock. Just like before it appeared to make his powers just a little bit stronger. They suggested that it might make him immune to green kryptonite as long as he keeps a piece of that rock on his person."

They heard the rattle of the handcuffs against the table and a choking sound that ended in an agonized "No!"

They all smiled as Clark continued. "It was also discovered that continued exposure is extremely detrimental to normal humans. Within a few days the effects become irreversible and the end result is a severely truncated life span. A person would be lucky to last a dozen years after that."

Lois spoke next. "I almost wish we could give Cash what he wants and have Superman take him to that valley. It might be fun watching Cash find out what a fool he has been."

Henderson turned to the officer standing there. "Officer Jacobs, keep an eye on the prisoner while I get these two reporters' statements." Then he escorted Lois and Clark to his office.

Once they were settled in Henderson's office, he addressed the two reporters. "So how much of what you just told me is really true."

"Well it is all true but it isn't the whole story." Clark responded.

Henderson cocked his head in a curiosity.

Lois continued. "It is true that the emanations from that meteor caused Clark's body to strengthen his invulnerability and his aura but as a result there was less energy available for his other powers so he had to work harder to get them to work. The radiation from that rock also has a mitigating effect on the radiation from other known forms of kryptonite."

Clark took over. "The Magic as they call it does shorten a normal human's life span but it does so by seriously speeding up the rate at which they live. They might only live for ten years but in that time they would experience the equivalent of a hundred and twenty years of living."

"You said they." Henderson remarked curiously.

"Yes, the inhabitants of the valley." Lois responded.

"The radiation or magic not only speeds up time for any human that stays there for more than a few days but it also causes massive alterations in their physical appearance. It also makes it impossible for them to survive outside of that Valley." She glanced over at Clark. "The only reason that I'm here today is because Clark's aura was protecting me from the effects of the radiation." She opened her cell phone and showed Henderson a picture of Bog and Maryanne standing on Clark's hand. Though small the image was quite clear. Maryanne had her sword out and her wings fully extended and Bog had his arm around her waist. "This is the only picture I was able to get, and no, you're not seeing things. The valley is inhabited by humans that have been turned into tiny fairies and goblins."

Henderson's eyebrows went nearly up to his hairline as he looked at the perfectly clear image. After a second he cleared his throat. "How much of this will be in your article?" He asked in strained voice.

"None of it." Lois responded. "The less people know about it the better. The surrounding mountains and the swamp pretty much keep outsiders away."

Clark added. "Obscurity is the best way to protect the area." He looked over at Lois then continued. "Our article is just going to say that the remnants of Bureau 39 had set up a secret base in the Appalachian Mountains and how they had actively driven out anyone that tried to move into the area. It will also describe how they had destroyed the efforts of a developer that had tried to build a resort in the area." Clark grinned. "By the way, thank you for passing along that bit of information about the small space craft with superman's symbol on it."

"What did you do about it?" Henderson inquired.

"The ship is safely tucked away in a new location." Clark responded.

"Oh!" Lois interjected. "By the way where did the last call on Cash's phone come from?"

"It came from one of the local village cops." Henderson responded with a derisive snort. "Apparently, Cash had managed to convert the fool into a true believer." He shook his head in disgust. "The guy was a moron. He became a cop through the influence of his uncle. He even believesd that the Western Valley is over run by evil spirits. He is currently under arrest for conspiracy and for obstruction of justice."

"Evil spirits you say." Clark remarked in a thoughtful manor. "Well that just about wraps things up." Clark and Lois both stood up. "You have our official statements." They approached the door and Clark added one more comment. "And don't forget to be at our place Friday at seven for dinner." Then they exited the office.

That night after the children were put to bed, Lois and Clark made use of her new ability to float and, as she had put it, join the mile high club.

 ** _ _ **The End  
**__**

 _ _( 181028 )__

* * *

 ** _Disclaimer:_** _This story is a crossover between the television series _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and the animated movie ' **Strange Magic** '__

 _' **Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman** ' and its characters are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them. _

_' **Strange Magic** ',and its characters are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd, etc. _

_No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

* * *

 **Story Data:**

Meteor first landed: Fall 1896  
Original Military operation: Spring 1955  
 _Bureau 39 becomes involved: Fall 1996  
_ Developer: Summer 2000  
Lois and Clark investigate: Fall 2002

Jonathan Samuel Kent born: Spring 1997  
Martha Ellen Kent born: Winter 1999  
Lucy Lara Kent born: Spring 2003


End file.
